Environmental issues are a major concern for everyone on the planet, as our lives depend on maintaining a livable environment. Potential health issues related to pollution have been documented and discussed for years. But beyond overall health, is air pollution a factor in penis health? Some recent studies suggest that yes, it may well be.

The pollution problem

According to the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, air pollution is defined as "a mixture of natural and man-made substances in the air we breathe." These substances either are not meant to be inhaled into the human body at all or else only in small quantities. When these substances are too abundant in the air, people cannot help but inhale them, which can potentially cause significant health problems. Among the problems associated with air pollution are respiratory diseases, heart diseases, pregnancy issues, and much more.

Air pollution is a widespread problem. The American Lung Association estimates that more than 40 percent of Americans are at risk of death or disease due to air pollution. Worldwide, air pollution resulted in 4.2 million premature deaths in 2016 alone, with 90 percent of those deaths occurring in poor and underdeveloped countries. Ninety-two percent of the people in the world live where air pollution is considered unsafe.

The penis impact

Air pollution doesn’t just affect organs like the heart and lungs; it also appears to have an impact on penis health as well and in at least 2 ways.

Erectile function. A recent study from China looked at the effects of vehicle exhaust on otherwise healthy rats. (Yes, this study is looking at rats, which are clearly not human - no matter what some people may snidely assert. But it’s unethical to conduct tests of this sort on human subjects, as it could lead to possibly permanent damage to their health.)

The rats were divided into 4 groups of 10 rats each. One group received no exposure to vehicle exhaust. The other 3 groups received, respectively, 2 hours, 4 hours, and 6 hours of exposure each day, 5 days a week. The higher the rate at which the rats were exposed to air pollution, the greater the incidence of erectile dysfunction that developed among the poor little fellows.

Again, this study looked at animals, not humans, but it does suggest that breathing in a lot of air pollution is bad for a man’s erectile status.

Semen quality . Another study has focused on what exposure to air pollution may do to semen quality. Once again, this study - conducted in Brazil - focused not on humans but on mice, again for the reason stated above.

Once again, the subjects were divided into 4 groups. One group received only healthy filtered air. A second was exposed to air pollution only while they were in the womb. For a third group, exposure to air pollution started during pregnancy and continued until adulthood. And a fourth group was not exposed during pregnancy but was exposed after birth until adulthood.

All of the mice exposed to air pollution exhibited damaged sperm; the longer they were exposed to air pollution, the more damage there was to their sperm. Again, assuming that this same pattern holds true for humans, it implies that men with greater exposure to air pollution will have a greater number of damaged sperm.

More studies are needed, but it does seem clear that increasing air pollution will have negative effects on men exposed to it.